Orthodox Internet Radio Ministries In the News

It’s been my belief that the newly emerging Orthodox Internet radio ministries of Ancient Faith Radio and Orthodox Christian Network are one of the most dramatic and relevant forces for change, growth and unity in American Orthodoxy today. Here’s a very nice piece by Amy Rogers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the phenomenon of Orthodox Internet media. Poor Amy seems to have been knocked around a teeny bit over her one sentence history of Orthodoxy when she boiled down the Great Schism to “Orthodoxy developed in Eastern Europe and Asia when Christianity split into Orthodoxy and Catholicism in 1054, primarily due to conflict over papal authority”. Well, I’ll take exception to the characterization of the Orthodox Church “developing” only after the split. I think we were pretty well formed in AD 33 and only improved with age, but really, it’s nothing we all haven’t done trying to give the condensed version of Orthodoxy to an inquirer. If we’re Orthodox, though, I think our take on it is that ‘the Roman Catholic Church split from us primarily over the issue of papal authority’. Amy does what a good journalist should do – she tries to relay the story with a minimum of bias. If she was writing about Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses, she couldn’t very well say “founded on false historical premises by nut jobs” or “not Christian despite their claims to the contrary”.

Whoever left whom, that’s what makes a schism. As a very devout Roman Catholic friend and former co-worker told me on more than one occasion, “You’re not a heretic, you’re just a schismatic”. Woohooo! I love being a schismatic.

Go listen to some good Orthodox Internet radio today. And while you’re at it, if you feel it’s done you some good and you can help financially with their ministries, please think about making a donation. For the good of the American Orthodox Church, these are resources we can’t afford to neglect.